Chapter 270

Nicole's hand trembled as she gripped the kitchen knife, its blade glinting coldly under the light. Two maids clung to her arms, their nails digging into her flesh.

"Dad!" Nicole's wail rose sharply at the sound of footsteps. She suddenly raised the knife toward her throat, the blade grazing her skin and leaving a thin trail of blood.

The maids shrieked and lunged forward. The knife clattered to the floor.

Victor rushed forward in three strides, kicking the blade away. He seized his daughter's wrist, his voice shaking. "Nicole! Have you lost your mind?"

"Let me die!" Nicole thrashed hysterically. "I'm ruined! The whole world knows what happened to me!" Her legs gave out, and she collapsed, her nails scraping the floor with a screech.

The housekeeper hurriedly snatched up the knife and hid it in the kitchen. When she returned, Nicole was slamming her head against the wall. Blood trickled down her pale cheeks, mingling with tears and staining her silk nightgown.

Victor pulled his daughter into his arms, his palm brushing against the sharp protrusion of her shoulder blades. The realization stabbed through his heart—when had his precious girl become so gaunt?

"Who did this?" Victor's voice was laced with ice. He stroked her tangled hair, his fingers coming away sticky with blood.

Nicole suddenly convulsed violently. "It was Susan... She drugged me..." She clutched her father's collar, her nails sinking into the expensive fabric. "She hired men to rape me and posted the video online!"

The living room fell deathly silent. The maids kept their heads bowed, listening to the sound of Victor's knuckles cracking.

"Just now, she called..." Nicole let out a shrill, unnatural laugh. "She said I'll never have Andrew... That I'll never be clean again..."

Victor shot to his feet. His suit jacket brushed against the coffee table, knocking over a glass that shattered on the floor. He pulled out his phone. The hashtag #NicoleCapraHomewrecker trended with a blazing red "BREAKING" beside it.

The video of his disheveled daughter made his vision darken.

"Dad, there's more..." Nicole staggered upright, lifting her nightgown to reveal a scar on her abdomen. "She killed my baby..." She raised her left wrist, where a gruesome wound still oozed blood. "I should have died last time..."

Victor's pupils constricted. That scar—he knew it too well. Twenty years ago, Catherine had left the same mark when she took her own life.

"She won't even spare Mom..." Nicole suddenly buried her face in her father's chest. "Dad, if Mom wakes up and sees me like this..."

Those words were the final straw. Victor gently pushed her away. When he turned, his eyes burned with murderous rage. He grabbed the car keys from the foyer, the metal biting into his palm.

"Wait here." His voice was terrifyingly soft. "Daddy will make this right."

The moment the door slammed shut, Nicole wiped her face. She stared at the blood on her fingers, then slowly smiled. By sunrise, Susan would be lying in the morgue.